by Dotti
Wed Apr 16, 2014 11:21 pm
There are a few different ways that particular scenario can go (all of which are scams.) I'm listing them in no particular order.
1) he discovers that he can't transfer to your particular bank so you have to open an account at a different bank (he will give you a link to the bank.) Of course, you will have to make a deposit to open the account to receive the money. The catch? The scammers have set up a fake bank website, and any money you send is going straight into the scammers' hands.
2) Just as he convinces you that he is sending money to you ( a strategy intended to make you believe he is not a scammer, based on the logic that a scammer would be asking for money, not offering it,, and also intended to make you think he is wealthy, and can afford to pay back a significant sum of money ) a crisis will happen. There will be an accident at work and he has to pay the families of those who were killed; his child was just diagnosed with a life-threatening illness; he was robbed at knifepoint; the authorities are investigating him/his company/the color of the sky/some other nonsense. Whatever the story, you can be sure that his money is tied up, or his accounts are frozen, and he can't access his own money. So instead of him helping you, now you need to help him--but he hopes that his initial offers to send money to you will convince you that he's a straight-up guy who is going to pay him back.
3) He "transfers" the money into your account--only as soon as it is in your account, an emergency comes up, and you need to withdraw some or all of the money and send it to him or a third party (for example, a realtor who is selling him a house, a doctor who is treating his child, etc....) or he will ask you to buy and ship some pricey merchandise with some or all of the money. The catch? The deposit is not legitimate, even though it initially looks like it to the bank. The scammer (a) deposited a fraudulent check into your account; (b) transferred the money in from an innocent person's (or business', in this case more likely with the amount.) bank account or credit card that was obtained and sold by hacking rings; or (c) convinced an innocent person to transfer the money himself/herself in the course of a separate scam (also less likely in this case due to the large sum of money involved.)
So initially, when your account shows the money, you might be tempted to go ahead and follow his instructions. But in the end, days to weeks later, you will end up paying dearly for it. The bank will realize the check was fraudulent; or the real account owner will report the abuse of their account, or the innocent person will figure out he has been scammed and start taking steps to reverse the transaction. The bank will try to take the money back out of your account. If you have withdrawn some of it, they will come after you to force you to repay whatever you have withdrawn. Plus there will be fees/fines for the bad deposit, and if taking all that money out causes checks to bounce, there will be additional fines for each impacted check. You can easily end up hundreds to many thousand dollars in debt.
If you haven't withdrawn any money by the time they discover the fraud, you are still likely looking at a frozen bank account while the bank sorts out the mess, and possibly a closed bank account in the end, as well as you ending up on a "high risk" list for banks, making it difficult, if not impossible, to open accounts in the future. To add to the fun, since your bank account was used to receive and process stolen money, the bank may call the police and report you for money laundering, which is an extremely serious crime.
In the meantime, the scammer has picked up the money or the items, and he is enjoying his new possessions, while you are dealing with a seriously messed up personal life.
As far as the other scammers go, you can start a topic for each in the romance scam forum, and include as much information as you can for each one, including initial approachesand early emails if they sent any. (because they love to reuse those.)
1) he discovers that he can't transfer to your particular bank so you have to open an account at a different bank (he will give you a link to the bank.) Of course, you will have to make a deposit to open the account to receive the money. The catch? The scammers have set up a fake bank website, and any money you send is going straight into the scammers' hands.
2) Just as he convinces you that he is sending money to you ( a strategy intended to make you believe he is not a scammer, based on the logic that a scammer would be asking for money, not offering it,, and also intended to make you think he is wealthy, and can afford to pay back a significant sum of money ) a crisis will happen. There will be an accident at work and he has to pay the families of those who were killed; his child was just diagnosed with a life-threatening illness; he was robbed at knifepoint; the authorities are investigating him/his company/the color of the sky/some other nonsense. Whatever the story, you can be sure that his money is tied up, or his accounts are frozen, and he can't access his own money. So instead of him helping you, now you need to help him--but he hopes that his initial offers to send money to you will convince you that he's a straight-up guy who is going to pay him back.
3) He "transfers" the money into your account--only as soon as it is in your account, an emergency comes up, and you need to withdraw some or all of the money and send it to him or a third party (for example, a realtor who is selling him a house, a doctor who is treating his child, etc....) or he will ask you to buy and ship some pricey merchandise with some or all of the money. The catch? The deposit is not legitimate, even though it initially looks like it to the bank. The scammer (a) deposited a fraudulent check into your account; (b) transferred the money in from an innocent person's (or business', in this case more likely with the amount.) bank account or credit card that was obtained and sold by hacking rings; or (c) convinced an innocent person to transfer the money himself/herself in the course of a separate scam (also less likely in this case due to the large sum of money involved.)
So initially, when your account shows the money, you might be tempted to go ahead and follow his instructions. But in the end, days to weeks later, you will end up paying dearly for it. The bank will realize the check was fraudulent; or the real account owner will report the abuse of their account, or the innocent person will figure out he has been scammed and start taking steps to reverse the transaction. The bank will try to take the money back out of your account. If you have withdrawn some of it, they will come after you to force you to repay whatever you have withdrawn. Plus there will be fees/fines for the bad deposit, and if taking all that money out causes checks to bounce, there will be additional fines for each impacted check. You can easily end up hundreds to many thousand dollars in debt.
If you haven't withdrawn any money by the time they discover the fraud, you are still likely looking at a frozen bank account while the bank sorts out the mess, and possibly a closed bank account in the end, as well as you ending up on a "high risk" list for banks, making it difficult, if not impossible, to open accounts in the future. To add to the fun, since your bank account was used to receive and process stolen money, the bank may call the police and report you for money laundering, which is an extremely serious crime.
In the meantime, the scammer has picked up the money or the items, and he is enjoying his new possessions, while you are dealing with a seriously messed up personal life.
As far as the other scammers go, you can start a topic for each in the romance scam forum, and include as much information as you can for each one, including initial approachesand early emails if they sent any. (because they love to reuse those.)
Need to post photos? http://scamwarners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=3219
Are you a victim of a romance scam? Read here for advice and FAQ's.
Are you a victim of a romance scam? Read here for advice and FAQ's.
